A`s Blank Sox, Move Into Lead

For the second straight night, the Oakland Athletics made the White Sox offense disappear, this time with a 2-0 victory in front of 22,536 chilled but thrilled fans Tuesday in Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.

That put the A`s in first place by a half-game over the sliding California Angels in the American League West.

Four Oakland pitchers-starting with Curt Young (3-8), through Todd Burns and Rick Honeycutt, and ending with Dennis Eckersley (19th save)-stopped the Sox on six singles, three of them in the infield.

Wasted was another fine performance by Sox starter Greg Hibbard (2-3). The rookie left-hander went 7 2/3 innings and was charged with the two runs, the second scoring on Carney Lansford`s single off reliever Shawn Hillegas. In his last start, Hibbard threw 6 2/3 shutout innings at home in beating Seattle.

``The score showed that they pitched well, too, but Hibbard pitched a great game,`` said Sox manager Jeff Torborg.

``It`s probably the best outing I`ve had all year, as far as command,``

Hibbard said. ``I`ve been trying to keep the ball below the knees on every hitter, and I did that tonight. I felt real good about the way I threw, and I`ll be satisfied if I can throw the rest of the year like that.

``It just happens that it was one of the nights when our hitters weren`t on.``

Actually, the hitters were on. They just didn`t get in.

In the first, Scott Fletcher and Ivan Calderon singled with one out, but nothing happened. In the second, Russ Morman singled with one out, stole second and died there as Ron Karkovice took a third strike and Ozzie Guillen rolled to short.

In the fifth, Guillen singled with two out, stole his 30th base of the season and got no farther. In the seventh, Dan Pasqua singled with one out, went to second on Steve Lyons` pinch-sacrifice and was left there as Karkovice fanned.

In the eighth, Guillen beat out a dribbler leading off and Dave Gallagher bunted him to second. That`s when Oakland manager Tony LaRussa brought in Eckersley, who caught Fletcher looking (``I thought it was inside,`` Fletcher said), got Calderon on a groundball, then closed out the Sox in the ninth for the save.

``We just couldn`t get the big hit,`` Torborg said. It was much the same story Monday night, when nine hits generated just two runs in a 3-2 loss to Mike Moore.

The Athletics, on the other hand, were just efficient enough to win, which is why they`re where they are while the Sox are holding up the division. The A`s scored their first run off Hibbard in the second inning. Dave Henderson started it off with a one-out hit. After Terry Steinbach struck out, Tony Phillips singled Henderson to second. Felix Jose followed with a bloop that fell for a double about five feet in front of Gallagher`s dive, and Henderson came home.

``Dave just took one step back,`` said Torborg. ``That`s tough when a big guy takes that big swing.``

The second run, in the eighth, came on three straight two-out singles, by Mike Gallego and Rickey Henderson off Hibbard and by Lansford on Hillegas`

first pitch.

Hibbard did get decent defensive support, particularly around second base. The Sox turned four double plays, one started by Hibbard when he speared a blazing one-hopper off Jose Canseco`s bat, and three of them with Fletcher in the middle.

Fletcher has been flawless in the field, which is remarkable for a second baseman who hasn`t been one in three years.

``I guess playing there before has benefited me,`` Fletcher said. ``There are some things I`m still working on, but it shouldn`t take that long.``

``He and Ozzie work beautifully together,`` said Torborg.

So the plan is sort of working: Helped by Fletcher`s tighter defense, Sox pitchers have an earned-run average, since the Harold Baines trade, of 2.45.

They`re also 1-3.

``I`m very pleased with the way our pitching is going,`` said Torborg.

``It`s just getting better and better and better. We`ll win a lot of games pitching like that.``